What to Fear
by ShadowKnight49
Summary: The Crystal Gems always thought that their only enemy were the Gems from Homeworld. However, they never realized that they would be visited by Earth's greatest menace: the Slenderman and his proxies, including their rookie. The Gems must find a way to survive this horrific onslaught, or else they shall be driven to insanity.
1. Stopping the Peace

Chapter 1: Stopping the Peace

Steven Universe walked outside to be greeted by the gentle ocean breeze.

Ever since the disappearance of Malachite, Steven hadn't been bothered much by many supernatural (to normal humans) events by the Gems of Homeworld.

Oh, but that was only Homeworld.

There was a danger he had met, more dangerous than he almost would ever fight.

This one was from Earth.

 **A month earlier**

It was night out, and Steven looked out to figure out what was up with the sound of scraping.

His answer was a figure standing in the sand, carving something.

It was clearly male, and owned a black hoodie, pants, gloves, and sneakers. A thick rope went around his torso, and a pickaxe was tied to his back. He held a machete, and made loud scratching sounds as he drew on the rock.

Most noticeable was the mask on his face: Like a skull mixed with a hockey mask: bronze, with glaring eyes and four silts where the mouth would be and two shorter ones for a nose.

Steven looked at the rock he had been carving in. There was a rigid circle with an _X_ in the middle of it.

"Hey, you!" he called.

The guy looked over at Steven and said, "Oh, hello. Didn't realize this is… your rock." He was clearly a teenager by the pitch of his voice.

"Erm, it's not. It's just pretty annoying with you making those scraping sounds."

"Oh. Sorry. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"This is where I live."

"Huh. Didn't think that anyone lived here."

"There are four of us. Well, five, really."

"Who?"

"Um… I can't…"

"STEVEN? WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Steven spun to find Pearl giving him a hard stare, but then faltering when she saw the skull-guy. She looked… confused.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" she demanded, strict again.

He took a step back and stammered, "Um… uh…"

"I advise you to get out, or face the consequences!"

"THAT'S IT! GUYS! TIME TO KICK BUTT!"

Five more guys walked out of the shadows, all ready for fight.

Some guy, older that skull-face, held two hatchets, wore a hoodie that was yellow with a blue hood and jeans plus sneakers, and had distinctive orange pilot goggles and a bandanna over his mouth looked at skull-face.

"S-so, On-Once," he stuttered. "W-w-we're going to k-k-kill them?"

"You bet," Skull-face, Once, told him.

Another with a blue, mouthless and noseless mask with a black liquid coming out of the eyeholes and a black hoodie, gripped a dagger and laughed.

Two guys, one with a mime-ish mask and another with a hood pulled over his face so you could see glowing red eyes and a red mouth, brought out crowbars but said nothing.

The last guy, impossibly pale with long black hair, staring red eyes and a carved smile, twirled two steak knives, both covered in dried blood.

Pearl put an arm around Steven and said worriedly, "Well, I say we have a little chat about-STEVEN RUN!"

She flung Steven over her shoulder and did combat with the psychos. Steven ran into the Temple, out of breath. He was greeted with confused looks with Garnet and Amethyst.

"Steven, bro," Amethyst said to him, giving him a confused look. "What the…"

Pearl crashed in through the window next to Steven's bed, brutally beated.

Then something peered into the Temple, someone… no, something, Steven actually recognized from surfing the internet.

Slenderman.


	2. Lost in the Maze

Chapter 2: Lost in the Temple

Both Garnet and Amethyst brought out their weapons, but before they could attack the Slenderman, the hooded guy with the crowbar crashed the door down.

"Run!" Garnet commanded the other Gems.

Pearl, who clearly wanted that excuse, ran to the Temple door and opened it, and she, Steven, and Amethyst ran in. They were followed by Garnet right before the door closed.

Garnet, gasping for breath, told them, "We should split up. That way, there's a chance they won't get to Steven. Or any of us, for that matter."

Steven blinked and asked, "Isn't that how everyone dies in horror movies?"

A black knight with a red dragon elbem on his chestplate shouted, "I DON'T CARE! YER SPLITTING UP BECAUSE IT'S COOLER THAT WAY!"

The Gems all turned in opposite directions and walked away from each other.

 **Outside the Temple**

Masky cracked his knuckles and neck and asked, "Shall I do the honors, master?"

The Slenderman, taller than all of them, replied in a cold voice, "No. I would like our rookie to do so."

Jeff patted Once on the back and then shoved him forward. Once looked back at them.

"Are you sure, master?" he asked.

"I am very, very sure…" Slenderman answered calmly.

Once nodded and turned to the door. He spread his fingers and turned his palms forward.

The five gems on the door glowed black, and the door seemed to corrode and then disappear.

Slenderman pointed inside of the Temple, and the proxies split up.

Once and Toby fell into a fork, and they both pointed in opposite directions when they said simultaneously, "There!"

They looked at each other, nodded, and went in the direction they pointed.

None of them knew, but, Gem and proxy alike, they became all lost.

 **Note to that Matt or something guy:**

 **Me, obviously**


	3. Endless Fighting

' **sap guys? So anyways, I have a bit of a response to a review…**

 **Matt, it's not the cover image (I would love one, though). It's the avatar. There's a colossal difference. Like the avatar shows up instead of the default image while the cover image shows up instead of the avatar. For example, I put a shadow knight image for my avatar once, and put a demon for the cover image. Now, if you go to my profile you'll see the shadow knight, but the story would have the demon for the story. As for the loser part… not accurate. At all. After all, what gives you the right to?**

 **Miku: Nobody.**

 **Flash Sentry: Me.**

 **Miku: Get out.** _ **Now**_ **.**

 **Flash: Fine. I'm going. Geez.**

 **Miku: (blasts him with rocket launcher)**

 **Me: Please note that this chapter is only for showing who's versus who.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe or Slender. I only own Once.**

Chapter 3: Endless Fighting

Pearl was about to exit the dome-shaped room when the knife buried itself in the doorway next to her. She pointed her spear in the direction it came from.

Eyeless Jack and Jeff the Killer stalked toward her. Jack took out a spear that was made from a machete, rope, and a stick. Jeff brought out his backup knife and twirled it.

"Interesting… we have our first victim," Jack whispered, his voice bouncing off the walls.

Pearl groaned and said, "I can't be defeated by teens like you!"

She jumped high and swung her spear in a long arc at Jack, who caught it and threw her over his shoulder. She landed on her feet and fired fireballs at the proxies, but they dived out of the way.

It became quickly obvious that these not-so-humans were going to be a challenged.

 **Somewhere else**

"So, Bryan, what are you going to do after we're done here?" Masky asked.

"Don't call me that," Hoody said with his voice changer on.

"Why are you guys just casually talking?!" Amethyst demanded.

She whipped her whip once, and it wrapped against Hoody's thick arm. He threw her into a wall, and Masky charged in with his crowbar. Amethyst moved out of the way and kicked his legs, and he fell on his face.

Hoody laughed and said, "I thank you for knocking him down. That was funny. But now I have to kill you."

He brought his crowbar down.

 **Elsewhere**

Toby's hatchets stuck against Garnet's fists, and the air rippled from the force. Garnet then punched him full in the stomach, and he just stood back up.

"How is that even…?" Garnet asked, not seeing that in her future sense.

"Your s-s-sense has been b-blinded by the Slenderman," Toby explained. "I-I-I c-cannot get h-hurt."

"Just because you can't feel doesn't mean you can get broken!"

She socked him again, but he acted like nothing happened.

 **Deeper in**

"I used to have a name…" Once's voice echoed. "A puny human one…"

Steven wandered in the deep, dark room in the Temple. He couldn't see anything except for himself in there. Luckily, there were no walls.

"My family knew me as William Howardson, a stupid name. I was a nerd, a weakling. But then I saw the outside world, and I embraced the powers of the Slenderman. That's what makes me this brilliant being today. Now, in his name, you shall die."

Steven saw his skull mask in his face.

"Live once, die once, see me once, I am _Once_!"

 **So, we've got Pearl versus Jeff and Jack, Amethyst versus Hoody and Masky, Garnet versus Toby, and Steven versus Once! Who will win? What do you expect?**

 **Miku: SLENDERMAN KILL ALL OF DEM CRYSTAL GEMS! X3**

 **Foxy: You heartless daughter of a…**

 **Me: FOXY! Don't insult our new commentator!**

 **Miku: Yeah. Don't insult Miku.**

 **Steven: HATSU MIKO!**

 **Miku: It's Hatsune Miku. Know the difference.**


	4. Nonsense to Him

**And… another review from our great insultor, Matt…**

 **Foxy: Are you kidding?! I was right to call Miku a heartless (fart)!**

 **Me: Dude. You're just jealous.**

 **Raven: And she was right that Slender is more powerful than the Gems. He's pure killer instinct.**

 **Foxy: See? Raven's with me! She's always sarcastic!**

 **Raven: Honestly, I'm not. I swear that if I was being sarcastic, I would be shot down by Superman.**

 **(silent waiting)**

 **Foxy: T-then… he's part of your family, is he?!**

 **Raven: No. But he is Carrie (the TAWoG one)'s uncle. We don't get along.**

 **Foxy: (huffs and goes off)**

 **Happy: Wow. He really hates Miku. Why's that?**

 **Me: She beat him in a rap battle.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anybody in this except for Once.**

Chapter 4: Nonsense to Him

Pearl's spear should have cut right through Jack's 'spear.' Jeff should have died when he got hit by a fireball. They _both_ should have died when she kabobed them.

Alas, that was not the case.

She was tiring from the two proxies, who were simply getting stronger. They were adapting to her swift style, and learning her tricks.

How long had this fight gone? Ten minutes? An hour? She didn't know, but it was definitely talking longer than it should. Especially against humans.

"We're not humans," Jack said, as if reading her thoughts. "We are better than human."

Jeff sniggered and explained, "We _used_ to be human. Then I got a beautiful face, and Jack was attacked by cultists and became, not just Slenderman's, but also Chernobog's son! It's amazing!"

Pearl flinched and shouted, "You two are insane!"

"No. They're wonderful."

His voice made the Temple hum. It was dark and cold and filled Pearl's heart with something she was familiar with but loathed: fear.

Slenderman came from behind Jeff and Jack and placed his hands on their shoulders.

"They're excellent proxies, and they're embracing the human's full potential. You Gems are inviting the opposite."

He stretched his hand out to the side, and a black staff taller than him made of cast iron appeared in his hand.

"I have battled before in the long past. I'll put an end to this nonsense."

 **Amethyst vs. Hoody and Masky**

"I'll keep pounding you all day if I have to!" Amethyst shouted at Hoody and Masky.

"You won't," Hoody replied calmly

Amethyst brought out a second whip and asked, "What makes you so sure?"

In response, someone walked in.

The Slenderman dragged an unconscious Pearl, holding his staff in the other hand.

He put her down and spun his staff better than Donatello on a good morning.

Amethyst rolled into a ball and shot at him, and he whacked her with the side of his staff. He made chase and his tentacles started coming out of his back.

 **(please note that I'm heavily against Rule 34. Why? It's ruined Pokemon, Inside Out, Teen Titans, and more of my favorite kid stuff for me… it just seems wrong. So, no, I'm not doing anything wrong there. Just setting suspense… I just killed it, didn't I?)**

 **Garnet vs. Toby**

Garnet had been beaten by this single proxy, yet he didn't seem to be hurt one bit.

" _Great. Where do I hit him?!"_ Ruby asked.

" _See if he has any weaknesses, metally. We talk,"_ Sapphire told her.

"Toby," Garnet said calmly, "why must you work for the Slenderman? He's a murderer, an outcast for a reason."

"E-exactly," Toby replied. "We are all ou-ou-outcasts just for b-being d-different. I-I have my t-twitches, and ev-verybody else has their f-faults. T-that's why we m-must protect ourselves f-from t-those who pursue u-us. A-and we do t-that by killing t-them."

" _Well, that didn't go well,"_ Sapphire commented.

"No, it didn't."

Apparently, the Slenderman could read minds.

 **Steven vs. Once**

Once's pick smashed against Steven's shield, but neither broke despite the impact.

Once jumped back and readied another strike.

"Why are you doing this?!" Steven questioned.

"You Gems are a threat to us. You have to be destroyed."

He swung again, and it was the same result.

"Why can't we just help you?!"

"We are fine alone, thanks."

Another strike.

"What if we leave you alone?"

"Too late."

Again.

"How did you find out about us?!"

"A giant floating green hand is hard to miss, even on a nerd's blog."

Steven made a mental note to _kill_ Rolando if he survived.

Then something turned on the lights, illuminating the room in red.

In the entrance was the Slenderman, dragging the unconscious bodies of the Crystal Gems. He held his staff with one of his tentacles, and the other proxies followed him.

Once stopped and bowed to the Slenderman and whispered, "My master."

Steven just stared. He could not believe this.

"Go on, Once," Slenderman said. "Kill him."

Once got back on his feet and drew his pick.

 **Well, we know that the proxies beat the Gems besides Steven.**

 **Miku: Get ROASTED! X3**

 **Foxy: You goshdarn…**

 **Me: Foxy, you have to stop hating on our new commentator.**

 **Foxy: That'll take a while…**

 **Me: It doesn't matter! Just as long as you do!**

 **Foxy and Miku: (glare at each other)**


End file.
